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Country Blues Archives - I Love Blues Guitar
I Love Blues Guitar

Tag: Country Blues

  • Son House – John the Revelator

    Son House – John the Revelator

    Son House

    House was born in Riverton, a town near Clarksdale, Mississippi, being the middle brother of 17. At the age of eight, and after the separation of his parents, he moved to Tallulah, Louisiana, with his mother. During his teens, he wanted to become a Baptist preacher, starting at age fifteen. Inspired by the work of Willie Wilson, House was drawn to the blues, despite opposition from the Church about this musical style because of the sins that surrounded him, beginning to play guitar in the mid-1920s. until 1942 in Robinsonville, Mississippi, with musicians such as Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson, Fiddlin ‘Joe Martin and Leroy Williams.

    After murdering a man, in alleged self-defense for him, he spent time in the Mississippi State Prison, during the years 1928 and 1929.

    Son House made recordings in 1930 for the record company Paramount Records and for Alan Lomax (belonging to the Library of Congress) in 1941 and 1942. He later disappeared from the music scene until the 1960s (a period characterized by the resurgence of country blues). , when, after a search by Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro in the Mississippi Delta region, it was “rediscovered” in 1964 in Rochester, New York, where it had lived since 1943; House was retired from the music scene and working for the New York Central Railroad, being completely oblivious to the international enthusiasm that reigned for the reissue of his early recordings. Due to this, he began a series of musical tours through the United States and Europe, made recordings for the CBS company. Like Mississippi John Hurt, he performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, at the New York Folk Festival in 1965, on the 1970 summer European tour with Skip James and Bukka White, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival there. same year.

    The last years of his life were characterized by the disease, retiring again from the music scene in 1974, moving to Detroit, Michigan, where he would reside until his death due to laryngeal cancer. He was buried at Mt. Hazel Cemetery. Members of the Detroit Blues Society held a series of benefit concerts to raise money to build a statue at the Son House tomb.

    Musical style and influation.

    The innovative musical style of House is characterized by using strong, marked and repetitive rhythms, together with a way of singing that recalls the laments of the chain gang (groups of prisoners). House greatly influenced Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, the latter being the one who would bring House’s music to other audiences; It was precisely House who, in a conversation with fans in the 1960s, expanded the legend that Johnson had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for being able to play the guitar masterfully. House has influenced current musicians like White Stripes, who performed a cover of their song “Death Letter” on the album “De Stijl”, performing that song at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony. The White Stripes also incorporated sections from the traditional Son House song “John the Revelator” to the song “Cannon” from their album “The White Stripes”.

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  • Son House – John the Revelator (Charlie Beale Remix)

    Son House – John the Revelator (Charlie Beale Remix)

    Love it or hate it Son House “John the Revelator” remixed with chill-out sounds by Charlie Beale. Not my style at all, but maybe it is the way to introduce blues music to younger people.

    Son House

    House was born in Riverton, a town near Clarksdale, Mississippi, being the middle brother of 17. At the age of eight, and after the separation of his parents, he moved to Tallulah, Louisiana, with his mother. During his teens, he wanted to become a Baptist preacher, starting at age fifteen. Inspired by the work of Willie Wilson, House was drawn to the blues, despite opposition from the Church about this musical style because of the sins that surrounded him, beginning to play guitar in the mid-1920s. until 1942 in Robinsonville, Mississippi, with musicians such as Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson, Fiddlin ‘Joe Martin and Leroy Williams.

    After murdering a man, in alleged self-defense for him, he spent time in the Mississippi State Prison, during the years 1928 and 1929.

    Son House made recordings in 1930 for the record company Paramount Records and for Alan Lomax (belonging to the Library of Congress) in 1941 and 1942. He later disappeared from the music scene until the 1960s (a period characterized by the resurgence of country blues). , when, after a search by Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro in the Mississippi Delta region, it was “rediscovered” in 1964 in Rochester, New York, where it had lived since 1943; House was retired from the music scene and working for the New York Central Railroad, being completely oblivious to the international enthusiasm that reigned for the reissue of his early recordings. Due to this, he began a series of musical tours through the United States and Europe, made recordings for the CBS company. Like Mississippi John Hurt, he performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, at the New York Folk Festival in 1965, on the 1970 summer European tour with Skip James and Bukka White, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival there. same year.

    The last years of his life were characterized by the disease, retiring again from the music scene in 1974, moving to Detroit, Michigan, where he would reside until his death due to laryngeal cancer. He was buried at Mt. Hazel Cemetery. Members of the Detroit Blues Society held a series of benefit concerts to raise money to build a statue at the Son House tomb.

    Musical style and influation.

    The innovative musical style of House is characterized by using strong, marked and repetitive rhythms, together with a way of singing that recalls the laments of the chain gang (groups of prisoners). House greatly influenced Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, the latter being the one who would bring House’s music to other audiences; It was precisely House who, in a conversation with fans in the 1960s, expanded the legend that Johnson had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for being able to play the guitar masterfully. House has influenced current musicians like White Stripes, who performed a cover of their song “Death Letter” on the album “De Stijl”, performing that song at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony. The White Stripes also incorporated sections from the traditional Son House song “John the Revelator” to the song “Cannon” from their album “The White Stripes”.
    Now, for comparison, and calming the original version. Good old Delta Blues…

    Son House – John the Revelator
    Son House – John the Revelator

    blues music t-shirts

  • Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby

    Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby

    Lonnie Johnson

    Lonnie Johnson plays It’s Too Late to Cry Baby. Taken from the American Folk Blues Festival: The British Tours recorded in England.

    The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe. It was an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson played on the festival. Most of them had never previously performed outside the US. The tours attracted substantial media coverage, including TV shows, and contributed to the growth of the audience for blues music in Europe.

    As a guitarist, Lonnie Johnson was ahead of his time. He had great playing technique and imagination, and his musical ideas were ahead of the time. He exerted a tremendous influence on his contemporary musicians, but even greater influence on future musicians. The list of musicians influenced by him includes such names as T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Big Bill Broonzy, Lowell Fulson, Sam Lightnin ‘Hopkins, Willie McTell, Henry Townsend, Albert King, B.B. King, Freddy King, Johnny Shines, Django Reinhardt and many more.

    Blues is a musical genre known as the folklore of African-American musicians. Its origins are associated with the southern states of the USA, that is the region conventionally called the “deep south”. The very name of the genre (sadness, despair) is related to its nostalgic form, also in the textual layer. Blues pieces touch male-female relationships as well as feelings and emotions (love, loneliness, faithfulness, jealousy). However, blues performers often sing about freedom, work and travel. The songs also feature social criticism relating mainly to racial inequality and political issues.

    Many artists are inspired by blues music and combine it with other styles. In this way, such musical mergers as punk blues, soul blues or blues rock. The popularity of this genre in the USA has led to the emergence of regional varieties, such as Louisiana, New Orleans, Texas and Detroit blues. There are also factions characteristic of other countries – British blues and African blues.

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  • Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing

    Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing

    New DVD Harlem Street Singer – Reverend Gary Davis Story

    This rich portrait tells the story of Reverend Gary Davis, the great blues, ragtime and gospel musician. Tracing his journey from the tobacco warehouses of the rural South to the streets of Harlem, the film is a loving biography of an artist whose unique style and remarkable skills on the guitar made him an icon in 1960s New York and inspired a generation of musicians. Harlem Street Singer celebrates the beauty and spirituality of his music as well as the human qualities that made Reverend Davis a much beloved teacher and minister. Featuring performances and interviews with musicians he influenced and taught, including Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane, David Bromberg, Stefan Grossman, John Cohen, Happy Traum, Woody Mann, John Hammond, Roy Book Binder and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. This is the story of an American master whose legacy continues to live on in today’s music scene. This DVD contains over 2½ hours of previously unreleased material, including rare footage of the Reverend in concert in Montreal, as well as performances by John Cephas, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen, Roy Book Binder, John Dee Holeman, and the Empire Roots Band featuring Bill Sims, Jr., Dave Keyes, Woody Mann and Brian Glassman. Additional interviews include many of the film’s main characters, plus outtakes from interviews with Peter Rowan, Ernie Hawkins, Tokio Uchida and Wavy Gravy. Audio recordings of Woody Mann’s guitar lessons and jams with the Reverend are also included.

    Harlem Street Singer – Shop Now

    Reverend Gary Davis - I Heard the Angels Singing

  • John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues

    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues

    Tidewater Virginia blues musicians – guitarist John Cephas and harmonica player Phil Wiggins – play a version of Richmond Blues (circa 1989). Video is courtesy of Houseparty Productions, Takoma Park, Maryland.

    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins

    Cephas and Wiggins were known for playing acoustic Piedmont blues. This kind of blues is not as much celebrated as raw Delta Blues of Mississipi or electric Chicago Blues. Piedmont blues is jaunty and melodic, often with elements of ragtime and complex fingerpicking.

    Cephas and Wiggins were both born in Washington D.C. They first met at a jam session at the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1976 and played together in Wilbert “Big Chief” Ellis’s band. When Ellis died, they decided to continue as a duo.

    Their first U.S. release, the album Dog Days of August, was issued by Flying Fish Records in 1986. Two more albums followed from Flying Fish. After they left the label, they released one album for the New York-based Chesky Records and four albums for Alligator Records. They released the album Richmond Blues on Folkways Records in 2008.

    Until the late 1980s, Cephas made his primary living from carpentry, playing music on the side. In the 1990s, he became a professional musician, sometimes earning money by teaching classes and workshops.

    (source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephas_%26_Wiggins)

  • Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby

    Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby

    Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby
    Lonnie Johnson – It’s Too Late To Cry Baby

    Lonnie Johnson

    Lonnie Johnson plays It’s Too Late to Cry Baby. Taken from the American Folk Blues Festival: The British Tours recorded in England.

    The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe. It was an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson played on the festival. Most of them had never previously performed outside the US. The tours attracted substantial media coverage, including TV shows, and contributed to the growth of the audience for blues music in Europe.

    As a guitarist, Lonnie Johnson was ahead of his time. He had great playing technique and imagination, and his musical ideas were ahead of the time. He exerted a tremendous influence on his contemporary musicians, but even greater influence on future musicians. The list of musicians influenced by him includes such names as T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Big Bill Broonzy, Lowell Fulson, Sam Lightnin ‘Hopkins, Willie McTell, Henry Townsend, Albert King, B.B. King, Freddy King, Johnny Shines, Django Reinhardt and many more.

    Blues is a musical genre known as the folklore of African-American musicians. Its origins are associated with the southern states of the USA, that is the region conventionally called the “deep south”. The very name of the genre (sadness, despair) is related to its nostalgic form, also in the textual layer. Blues pieces touch male-female relationships as well as feelings and emotions (love, loneliness, faithfulness, jealousy). However, blues performers often sing about freedom, work and travel. The songs also feature social criticism relating mainly to racial inequality and political issues.

    Many artists are inspired by blues music and combine it with other styles. In this way, such musical mergers as punk blues, soul blues or blues rock. The popularity of this genre in the USA has led to the emergence of regional varieties, such as Louisiana, New Orleans, Texas and Detroit blues. There are also factions characteristic of other countries – British blues and African blues.

    Our quality blues t-shirts are perfect for your next music festival, concert or jam, and make great gifts.
    blues music t-shirts

  • Cephas & Wiggins Championed The Piedmont Blues

    Cephas & Wiggins Championed The Piedmont Blues

    Cephas & Wiggins Championed The Piedmont Blues

    At a young age Cephas discovered Piedmont Blues records and loved pretty … away in 2009 at age 78 and left proud legacy in Folk and Blues music… Read More

    Historical society pays tribute to late folk-blues musician

    Lead belly was so influential — a major force in the music world,” said Nolan. “The musicians are going to be performing his music and it’s a great way… Read More

     

  • Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing

    Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing

    Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing
    Reverend Gary Davis – I Heard the Angels Singing

    New DVD Harlem Street Singer – Reverend Gary Davis Story

    This rich portrait tells the story of Reverend Gary Davis, the great blues, ragtime and gospel musician. Tracing his journey from the tobacco warehouses of the rural South to the streets of Harlem, the film is a loving biography of an artist whose unique style and remarkable skills on the guitar made him an icon in 1960s New York and inspired a generation of musicians. Harlem Street Singer celebrates the beauty and spirituality of his music as well as the human qualities that made Reverend Davis a much beloved teacher and minister. Featuring performances and interviews with musicians he influenced and taught, including Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane, David Bromberg, Stefan Grossman, John Cohen, Happy Traum, Woody Mann, John Hammond, Roy Book Binder and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. This is the story of an American master whose legacy continues to live on in today’s music scene. This DVD contains over 2½ hours of previously unreleased material, including rare footage of the Reverend in concert in Montreal, as well as performances by John Cephas, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen, Roy Book Binder, John Dee Holeman, and the Empire Roots Band featuring Bill Sims, Jr., Dave Keyes, Woody Mann and Brian Glassman. Additional interviews include many of the film’s main characters, plus outtakes from interviews with Peter Rowan, Ernie Hawkins, Tokio Uchida and Wavy Gravy. Audio recordings of Woody Mann’s guitar lessons and jams with the Reverend are also included.

    Harlem Street Singer – Shop Now

    Reverend Gary Davis - I Heard the Angels Singing

  • John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues

    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues

    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues
    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins – Richmond Blues

    Tidewater Virginia blues musicians – guitarist John Cephas and harmonica player Phil Wiggins – play a version of Richmond Blues (circa 1989). Video is courtesy of Houseparty Productions, Takoma Park, Maryland.

    John Cephas and Phil Wiggins

    Cephas and Wiggins were known for playing acoustic Piedmont blues. This kind of blues is not as much celebrated as raw Delta Blues of Mississipi or electric Chicago Blues. Piedmont blues is jaunty and melodic, often with elements of ragtime and complex fingerpicking.

    Cephas and Wiggins were both born in Washington D.C. They first met at a jam session at the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1976 and played together in Wilbert “Big Chief” Ellis’s band. When Ellis died, they decided to continue as a duo.

    Their first U.S. release, the album Dog Days of August, was issued by Flying Fish Records in 1986. Two more albums followed from Flying Fish. After they left the label, they released one album for the New York-based Chesky Records and four albums for Alligator Records. They released the album Richmond Blues on Folkways Records in 2008.

    Until the late 1980s, Cephas made his primary living from carpentry, playing music on the side. In the 1990s, he became a professional musician, sometimes earning money by teaching classes and workshops.

    (source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephas_%26_Wiggins)

  • Blind Lemon Jefferson – Long Lonesome Blues

    Blind Lemon Jefferson – Long Lonesome Blues

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    Blind Lemon Jefferson – Long Lonesome Blues

    “Well the blues come to Texas : loping like a mule
    You take a high brown woman : man she’s hard to fool”

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    “Blind” Lemon Jefferson

    (born Lemon Henry Jefferson; September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled “Father of the Texas Blues”.

    Jefferson’s singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar. Although his recordings sold well, he was not so influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians attempted to imitate both his songs and his musical style. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Lemon_Jefferson)

    Buy Blind Lemon Jefferson records – Amazon.com